Western Societies Obsession with Women’s Beauty and The Over Sexualisation of The Female Form in Visual Culture

I have chosen to write an extended essay, to research, analyze, discuss and understand western societies obsession with women’s beauty and the over-sexualization of the female form in visual culture, and the issues this manifests in today's society. I will identify the problems of the objectification of women in modern visual culture including; magazines, films, advertisements, art and social media. I wanted to understand the nature of this over-sexualized media, and how it had come to this point. With developing technologies and wider access to media than even 50 years ago, studies are shown that we consume around 8 hours of media a day. With the pornography, beauty and cosmetic surgery industries booming, this leads me to concerns about the effects this has on women and our society.

In Chapter 1

(The Objectification of the Female Body in Western Visual Culture) I will be discussing how women are objectified in art and photography throughout history and how this still applies today in more visual forms. I will then elaborate on the ‘male gaze’ theory, using examples from films we know today and consider why there is an ever growing obsession with sex and beauty in the media. I will then research why there is such a heavy influence of sex in today's advertisements and how this supports the profits of the industries that use these images.

In Chapter 2

(Give me a Reason to be Beautiful) I will be analyzing the human importance of being ‘beautiful’ using theoretical texts around evolution and science. I will touch on what role models girls are given to aspiring too, then arguing the points that beauty is subjective to each individual opposing the ‘ideal image’, following on with discussing how showing an unrealistic ‘perfect woman’ and showing women in particular roles can change females perspective of themselves and alter their own perception of what is important.

In Chapter 3

(The Problems with our Objectifying Visual Culture) Identifying the social, personal and societal problems that objectifying women in the media causes. From data analysis from different web sources to books to primary research survey studies, conducted by myself. I will be touching on the issues of self-esteem, eating and mental health disorders, and the problems with violence to women. I have conducted research from theoretical texts on visual culture, classic and contemporary feminist texts, looked at contemporary film and advertising, researched into the scientific and anthropological study of beauty, researched statistics on the related issues and conducted my own research into peoples issues with themselves in regards to the media.

The objectification of the female body in visual culture. In the film and book ‘Ways of Seeing’ by John Berger (first published in 1973), in chapter 3 Berger talks of how women are objectified in art and photography. Berger talks firstly of the presence of both man and woman in visual culture. He talks of how a mans presence has a purpose of what he can do or do for someone, in comparison he talks of women’s presence to be introverted, constantly looking at herself. “She has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men.” (Berger 2008 p.46) It is discussed that when the woman watches herself, her ‘inner surveyor’ is also male. Berger uses examples from European oil paintings, there is a strong theme of the woman being an object who is being surveyed, there are uses of mirrors showing the woman surveying herself (see fig. 1 below) eye contact with the viewer as if we are ‘spying’ on her (see fig. 2 Below) he also points out that there is a common theme with a male ‘lover’ in the paintings however the women continue to present herself to the viewer who is her ‘true lover’, therefore creating a romantic, enchanting desire towards the naked woman in the painting. “To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself.

A naked body has to be seen as an object in order to become a nude.” (Berger 2008 p.54) This inevitably objectifies the woman in the painting, she is the object that we are invited to be looking at. This idea of the ‘nude’ as an object to gaze at continues in our visual culture today. The female form is still used as an objectified image of fantasy and enticement, we see this is film, advertisements, television shows, billboards and magazines etc. (see fig. 3 below) all directed to the idea male fantasy of the female body. We must ask why just the female form has been a victim unto this objectifying sexualized way of perceiving. “...because the ’ideal" spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him.” (Berger 2008 p.64) understandably men who had more power and direction had the want for these images of the female nude, however, these ideas still live on as we have adapted into a more equal rights society. “This unequal relationship is so deeply embedded in our culture that it still structures the consciousness of many women” (Berger 2008 p.63) It must be considered that even images directed at women, objectify women. A few years later an essay ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ published in 1975 by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey molded the term ‘the male gaze’, as Mulvey said; “In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female...In their traditional exhibitionist role, women are simultaneously looked at and displayed.” The theory describes how in film and media, women are mere objects to be gazed upon through a male ‘lens’.

Although published in 1975, the male gaze lives on even more prominently so. (Mulvey 1975) A classic example of this is displayed in a film entitled ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’ (1946), the main female role, a girl named Cora, is displayed to the viewer as the hero’s desire and love interest, as said by Budd Boetticher, a 1950’s Western director; “What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself, the woman has not the slightest importance.” As shown in the scene where Cora is introduced, she is first shown by voyeuristic close-up camera angles, panning its way from her legs to midriff, to breasts, and then a whole shot of her wearing a sparse amount of clothing with the male protagonist then gawping at her. (see fig 4,5,6 below) We are introduced to this character as sexy and have seen a fair amount of her body before she says a word or what her name is. (Simmons 2016)

In a more modern example of the male gaze, we have one of the latest superhero movies, ‘The Avengers’. In this film the main female role of superhero ‘Black Widow’ seems to have more substance than a heroin, she has a main role as a hero, a backstory and a part in the overall action. However this idea of the male gaze is presented likewise, instead of the female role is a prize or the love interest, she is yet the female character to be looked at. She is presented as the male gaze fantasy in her skin-tight black suit leaving her body not too much to the imagination, reinforcing her character to just be placed in the film for ‘gender diversity’ to the Avengers team, and the ‘eye candy’. Even her name, ‘The Black Widow’ is a term derived from the famous arachnid, meaning she lures the male in making him fall in love with her, mate with her, and then proceeding to kill him. Even her name still involves sexualized desires towards men. In this day and age, where women have overcome sexist ‘rules’ over the past century, such as the ability to vote, to be educated, to bring women out of the ‘ideal housewife’ persona and into the workplace and the list goes on.

Now the boom of the over-sexualized image of the female body and the strain of the ideal to be beautiful. “More women have more money and power and scope and legal recognition than we ever had before; but in terms of how we feel about ourselves physically, we may actually be worse off than our unelaborated grandmothers.” (Wolf 1991, p.10) With the media looked through an over-sexualized male gaze, we are presented with it constantly and has become a part of our society. With us consuming around 8 hours of media a day, with the internet and these images being more accessible than ever, being told how to look beautiful in women’s magazines to edited and unrealistic advertisements depicting women as mere sexual objects, to even sell something like a burger. But we must ask why we are selling this image, why are we selling these sexual unrealistic images? The classic phrase of ‘Sex Sells’ comes to mind when considering these ideas, but surely when we are advertising towards the male population? A sexual image is eye-catching, of course, it's quick shocking at times, advertisements use erotic images, but not showing everything, usually replacing the product they are trying to sell in place of the parts they’re not allowed to put on a public billboard (see fig. 7 Below). This use of ‘sex sells’ has been around for over 100 years in advertising now, and increasing in the number of advertisements using this; “Back in 1885, W.Duke and Sons, a manufacturer of facial soap, included trading cards in the soap's packaging that included erotic images of the day's most popular female stars.

The link between soap and sex is slim at best, but it worked.” (Suggett, 2018) But is this idea fizzling out, that sex can sell us perfume, magazines, cars, makeup, and beer? With sexual images so easily obtainable nowadays, and with it pushed in our faces so much, are we really paying that much attention to a ‘leering nude’ on a perfume advertisement, or a woman with her mouth wide open with an elongated sandwich in front of her (see fig. 8 Below).

Becoming more and more exposed to these types of images, and with statistics like “Only five percent of women in the US actually, fit the current body type popularly portrayed in advertising today.” (Suggett, 2017) showing that there is no type of diversity in body type, and with magazines telling us how to be more beautiful and what new products can do this, the media world is putting a lot of pressure on the real world. The statistics show it, even from the 90’s where these images were less apparent, Wolf showed these statistics in her book; Currently, there is a $33 billion a year diet industry, $20 billion cosmetics industry, $300 million cosmetic surgery industry and the $7 billion pornography industry. (Wolf, 1991). Looking into statics from 2016, “Global cosmetic sales are set to reach $675 billion by 2020 ” (Raconteur, 2016). It is evident that by these types of images growing the beauty industry, cosmetic industry and the dieting industry, which can explain that the impact of these images are making these industries a lot of money, but is this profit from creating insecurities in ourselves in order to create a larger market.